Device for railway signaling or other purposes



(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1.

M. B. LEONARD. I DEVICE FOR RAILWAY SIGNALING OR OTHER PURPOSES. No.560,359. Patented May 19, 1896.

Wesses: V a fimv a jfem r l (No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2. M. B. LEONARD.

DEVICE FOR RAILWAY SIGNALING OR OTHER PURPOSES. No. 560,359.

Patented May 19, 1896.

All F 5 \9' y g G i a fizz 7663565 J 1 fizz/6736071. g y lawkaelfiarlyleo z arcz,

ANDREW B GRAHAM. PnOTU-LITMQWASHIN BTON. D r

{No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 3 M. B. LEONARD. DEVICE FOR RAILWAY SIGNALINGOR OTHER PURPOSES.

No. 560,359. Patented May 19, 1896.

.yrazv'q 1 11; a k

UNITED STATES MICHAEL BARRY LEONARD,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

DEVICE FOR RAILWAY SIGNALING OR OTHER PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,359, dated May 19,1896.

Serial No. 537,412. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, MICHAEL BARRY LEON- ARD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Richmond, county of IIenrico, and State ofVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devicesfor Railway Signaling or other Purposes, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention has relation to block-signaling apparatus or systems inwhich the signal is controlled by a ground or hand switch in the mannerset forth in myPatent No. 51?,il0, of March 27, 189%.

My present apparatus differs from that of the patent in that provisionis made for automatically locking the ground-switch during its returnmovement in a position in which it is impossible for either of twocontiguous stations to unlock the signal of the other until theground-switch is released by the action of an unlocking-magnet includedin a normally open circuit completed through contacts controlled by acircuit-closer located adjacent to the railroad-tracks, but independentof the rails,said circuit-closer being operated to close the contacts byactuating means attached to the last car or other selected car of thetrain passing over the track, whereby the passage of the selected car,and that car only, will operate the circuit-closer to close the circuitof the unlocking-magnet, and thus release the ground-switch. In this wayit is feasible to so arrange things that should a traina freighttrain,for exan1plebreak in two and the front end only of the train pass offfrom the block the ground-switch will stillremain locked, thus renderingit impossible to signal another train to enter the block so long as anypart of the train in advance remains on it.

In the accompanying drawings, to which I shall now refer for a morecomplete understanding of my invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation,partly in section, of a portion of a railroad track and car equippedwith a circuitcloser adapted to be used in carrying out the invention.Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same with the track instrument inlongitudinal vertical section. Fig. 3 is a plan of the springbar. Fig.at is a cross-section on line at a of Fig. Fig. 5 is a diagrammaticrepresentation of two connected stations and electric circuits thereforembodying my invention.

I shall first describe the preferred construction of the circuit-closeritself, and will then describe the system in which it is included. andof which it forms part.

The circuitcloser box or case II is similar to that of the ordinarytrack instrument used in railway-crossing alarms, and it is locatedbctween the ties T of the railway-track. The circuit-closing lever F ispivoted at f in the box, and its shorter outer end projects through aslot in the box of sufficient length to permit the needed play. Thecontacts controlled by the lever F are shown at f, and f are thecircuit-wires extending therefrom. In the arran gement shown thesecontacts are normally open, and are closed by the depression of theouter end of the lever, this movement lifting the inner end of thelever, (which is armed with conducting material,) so that it will enterbetween the contacts f and electrically c011- nect them, thus completingthe circuit f at this point. The outer end of the circuit-closing leverF is turned upward, as at), so as to extend up to and about in contactwith the under an d concave side of a curved sprin g-bar G, attached tothe ties T. One end of this bar is rigidly attached to the tie on whichit rests. The other end of the bar is connected to its tie by aslot-and-headed-pin connection g g',which will permit this end to slideupon the tie when the bar is depressed. The depression of the bar will,through the extension f correspond in gly depress the outer end of thecircuit-closing lever F. lVhen the spring-bar is relieved from pressureand rises, the contact end of the lever F will drop by gravity, or, ifdesired, this dropping action can be insured by the employment of aretractile spring.

A is the portion of the truck or running-gear of a car supposed to bepassing over the track at the point where the circuit-closing instrumentis located. B is one of the tie-bars of the truck. 0 is the wheel. Tothe part A, which in this instance is the axle-box, is attached thehousing D of a roller D, the housing being attached to the under side ofthe box. The roller D being upon the axle-box is of course upon theoutside of the car-wheel C, and it is so located as to be directly overthe spring-bar G and to act to depress the same. The spring-bar maybe ofsteel, say

five feet long, four inches wide, and of any face uppermost.

desired thickness. It is located along the railroad-ties, preferablyabout three inches outside of the rail, and parallel therewith. The baris longitudinally curved, and is spring-set in this form, and is placedconvex At the center or highest part of the curve it should be somedistancesay three inchesabove the level of the tread of the rail. Thebar should have sufficient strength and stiffness to require a pressureto depress it of, say, two hundred pounds or more, or, in other words,sufficient strength and stiffness to prevent its being operated bypersons stepping upon it. The roller D is preferably attached to theparticular portion of the car-truck shown for the reason that this isthe most rigid part of the car, has little, if any, vertical motion, andis always practically at the same distance from the rails and ground;and in this way I further insure that the weight of the car shall assistin the depression of the latter. The roller D under these conditionswould usually have a diameter of about seven inches. It is preferable tomount the roller upon a removable axlepin (1 in order to permit theroller to be removed when not wanted or to allow it to be replaced by asmaller or larger roller according to the varying size of the wheels ofthe car upon which it may be placed.

In Fig. 5 I have diagrammatically represented two contiguous stations ofa railway block-signaling system equipped and 0011- nected in accordancewith my invention.

The apparatus at both stations are the same, so that a description ofone will answer for both.

1 is the box containing the apparatus.

2 is the pivoted signal-operating leverj oined by a connecting rod orlink to the pivoted vibrating locking bar or lever 3. A bell-crankarmature-lever 4 acts as a stop to engage the heel of lever 3 when thesignal-operating lever is in normal or danger position, as at station X,thus looking it against movement. 5 is an electromagnet which,whenenergized, attracts armature 4 and thus draws the horizontal limb of thearmature down out of the path of the heel of lever 3.

6 is the pivoted manually operated grounds'witch, having a groundconnection and adapted to play between two contact-plates M N, asdescribed in my Patent No. 517,419 hereinbefore referred to. It normallyrests upon the'contact M and is there held by a spring 5. At eachstation there is a line-battery, (marked, respectively, X for station Xand Y for station Y.) Between the two stations extends the line-wire 7,having one of its terminals connected to one pole of X battery and itsother terminal connected to one pole of Y battery. The opposite pole ofX battery is connected by wire a: to contact N at X station. Theopposite pole of Y battery is connected by wire y to contact Nat Ystation. The terminals of the releasing-magnet 5 at each station areconnected, respectively,

to the contact M at that station and by wire m to line 7.

For the purpose of locking the groundswitch in intermediate neutralposition, out of contact with either of its contacts, after it has beenoperated by hand and is returning from its N position to its normalposition of rest, I employ a switch-locking armature-lever 8, providedwith pivoted spring'controlled dogs or jaws 9 9, between which thedetentarm 6 of the switch 6 will at this time be held. Thisarmature-lever is held up to its work by a spring, and is drawn (againstthe stress of its spring) in a direction to release the switch by anelectromagnet 10. This magnet is included in the normally open circuit fcompleted through the contacts f of the track instrument hereinbeforedescribed, the lever F of which is located in proximityto the track, asshown. Assuming both ground-switches to be in normal position, restingupon their contacts M, then if X operator, in response to call to thateffect from Y station, moves his switch from M to N (in which operationthe detent-arm of the switch wipes past the jaws 9 9 of the lockingarmature-lever 8) the circuit will be from Xs ground, through Xsground-switch, contact N, wire m, battery X, to line to Y station, andthen through wire on, magnet 5, contact M, ground-switch, to TS ground.Thus the magnet 5 atY station will be energized, with the effect ofunlocking Ys signal-lever and allowing the Y signal to be pulled tosafety, in which position the parts are shown in Fig. 5. The X operator,after releasing Ys lever, permits his groundswitch to return from N toits normal position at M; but in so returning, its detent-arm 6, at thetime the switch reaches intermediate position between and out ofconnection with either contact N or M, engages the dogs 9 of the lockingarmature-lever 8 and is locked fast in that position, as shown in Fig.5, so as to be incapable of movement in either direction, and it willthus remain until released by the action of the unlocking-magnet 10. Thecircuit f of this magnet is open and will remain open until the last orother selected car of the train admitted to the block by the Y operatorpasses, and then, and not until then, will the circuit-closing lever Fbe actuated in the manner hereinbefore described to close the contactsf, thus completing the circuit f and consequently energizing theunlocking-magnet 10, which thereupon will attract the lockingarmature-lever 8, with the effect of moving it in a direction to releasethe ground-switch. In this wayI ain enabled to guard effectually againstrear-end collisions which might occur by a portion of the admitted trainbeing left upon the block.

Inasmuch as practically all passengertrains are now equipped withair-brakes which immediately stop the whole train should it break intwo, the provision above described for guarding against rear-endcollisions probably is not so essential on this class of trains as onlong freight-trains not thus equipped. The roller D therefore could beapplied to all caboose or freight or conductors cars and could bepermanently fixed to such of these cars as do not pass off onto otherroads; but it can equally well be made removable and portable, andpassenger-cars can be fitted to receive it when desired, the brakemanplacing the roller-housing with its roller on either of the trucks ofthe last car of his train. In actual practice, however, about the sameresult would be obtained by attaching the device to the trucks of thelocomotive-tender on passenger-trains instead of the last car, thusobviating the necessity of shifting the device at junctions and terminalpoints where cars are added to or taken off from the passengertrain, andthis would also be the case where engines are run lighti. 6., without atrain or caboose-car.

The system hereinbefore described and illustrated is similar in ageneral way to that shown and described in my companion application,bearing Serial No. 528,382, on which Letters Patent will issue of evendate herewith, in which application I have broadly claimed thecombination, with the groundswiteh and its contacts, of a lockingmechanism for arresting and holding the groundswitch in intermediateneutral position during its return movement to normal and means calledinto operation by a passing train for releasing said switch from controlof said lockin g mechanism. Said broad subject-mat ter therefore is notclaimed by me in the present application; but

That I here claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a block-signaling system substantially such as described, thecombination of the ground-switch its two contact-plates; alockingarmature-lever by which said switch after having been moved from thatplate with which it is normally in contact to the other plate is, whenreturning to normal, automatically arrested, and locked in neutralposition out of contact with either plate; a spring for drawing saidarmature into locking position; an unlocking-magnet for influencing thearmature against the stress of its spring included in an electriccircuit; a circuit-closer controlling normally open contacts in saidcircuit and located adjacent to but electrically independent of thetrack-rails; and actuating means attached to the last or other selectedcar of a train passing over said track, whereby the passage of theselected car and that car only will operate the circuit-closer to closethe circuit of the unlocking-magnet,substantially as hereinbefore setforth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day ofJanuary, 1895.

MICHAEL BARRY LEONARD.

Witnesses:

J. M. Pownns, W. W. TALLEY.

